A US journalist was left squirming in his seat during an interview with Samuel L Jackson after the actor tried to make him say "the N-word". Film critic Jake Hamilton was speaking to Jackson about his role in Quentin Tarantino's latest film, Django Unchained, in an interview for Fox News Houston on January 2.

The movie tells the story of an African-American slave-turned bounty hunter who tries to rescue his wife from a Mississippi plantation owner.

But when Hamilton asked Jackson about controversy over the use of "the N-word" in the movie, which is heard more than 100 times, the actor was not going to make it easy for him.

Hamilton protests, saying "Oh I don't want to say it" and claiming he has never used the word before.But Jackson refuses to back down, putting on his best action hero voice and yelling, "try it, try it!"

"We're not going to have this conversation unless you say it!" he shouts.

Hamilton looks to his producers for help, asking "Really, seriously do I have to?" before Jackson finally relents and offers him an out.

"Do you want to move on to another question?" the actor asks, bursting into laughter when he sees Hamilton's visible relief.

The film's director Tarantino has defended the use of the word in the movie, saying "No social criticism that's been leveled my way has ever changed one word of any script or any story I tell".